Dome of Souls (Book 2 of 2, after Story Less Told)

Ch13: The Storm

Greg paced the pool area with his phone at his ear, looking annoyed.

"No, you are not listening to me...one reservation, hold on a second." Greg said looking annoyed. "It's like they don't hear words."

Did I miss something fun?" asked Abby

"I get a one-day pass to Horus and I can't even get a good breakfast reservation. Hello?" he asked holding his glass-pad up as a phone. Is this the manager?"

"Hello sir. What can I do for you today?" asked the manager.

"I got one day of freedom and I need a special lunch reservation to start the adventure. You still have the "fire in the hole" challenge?" he asked.

"Yes we do, it is the world record hottest taco. You must finish 2 of them in 5 minutes to complete the challenge-"

"Yea I want 14 of them." Greg interrupted.

"A challenge for 14 participants?"

"No, just 14 tacos."

"The challenge is 2 tacos, so do you want reservations for 7?"

"Listen carefully, Pedro." Greg said slowly. "I don't care about the challenge or the time or the t-shirt, I just want some stupid-hot tacos. Just make 14 of those lil bastards and bring them and I'll give you money...no challenge, just food."

"I think the tacos are part of the challenge and not a regular menu item, you have to sign a waver for the challenge-" the manager said.

"I'm not taking a challenge, I'm just eating them, I plan to eat them all and enjoy them reasonably paced. There is no timer; I don't care if you put my picture on the wall of people who will probability die-of-rrhea in 20 minutes. Just make the damn tacos, charge me the money, and I'll sign the waver, I'll sign it 7 times, why is this so difficult to understand. You make the hottest tacos, a mere mortal considers 2 a challenge, I want 14 of them and I'm just gonna eat them." he growled.

"So you just want tacos, not the challenge tacos, just regular spicy tacos?"

"Imagine a customer walks in to your store, where you make food and sell it to hungry people. Imagine he picks up a menu and says, boy I'm hungry as hell, I think I will eat 14 tacos. Now go back to make that order, except make the challenge tacos instead. Make 14 individual tacos, like you would for 7 challenges and just put them all on a big-ass plate. Then bring me the waver, write a 7 on it somewhere, I don't care. Then take that price of the challenge and multiply it by 7, make me a receipt. I'll give you a 50 percent tip. You open at 7:30, I'll arrive at 8, reservation for one table, one person, 14 tacos, mucho El tip, I eat all the tacos. We good?" he asked.

"You gotta sign the waver before we make the tacos, the challenge is 2 tacos."

"Nope, screw this, I'll make a reservation at Casa Del Sanchez. This is going nowhere." he said, flinging his phone into the pool and waling away.

"I can just make tacos here and serve them naked." she offered.

"Don't make it weird." he sighed, shuffling off.

"Dad, I don't like this." said Sasha.

"Of course you don't, it's highly illegal." Greg muttered, handing her his encryption pad. "But they only gave me one day out of the cell, so you need to loop the sensors while I'm gone." he explained to her